“We don’t reach the mountaintop from the mountaintop. We start at the bottom and climb up. Blood is involved” -Cheryl Strayed

This is a love letter of sorts, to those first time Flea Vendors that are afraid to press that Send Application Botton. I know you are out there, and I want you to know- you are not alone.

My name is Krista Jordan, Marketing Guru here at the Flea and I want to say I have also been personally victimized by my own fear before too, you are not alone. In fact, I was so afraid to apply for this role with the Flea that I almost didn’t. I almost let it slip right through my fingers just by having a fear of pressing a button, now doesn’t that sound silly. Truth is, the fear of not being good enough almost held me back from following my dreams.

Does that sound at all familiar?

-Afraid to fill out the application?

-Unsure of whether you will have all the answers?

-Worried the answers you have aren’t the perfect ones?

-Filed an application before but you weren’t accepted?

-Out of town vendor?

-Don’t have a working website?

-Not an official LLC yet?

-Not sure if you have all the correct licenses needed?

-Not sure you are Flea ready?

If any of the above describes you, there is good news- Team Flea can help

Let me first start out by saying you may not feel like you are ready to take on the Flea, but let me just say the first words out of my mouth when I found out I was expecting a beautiful little human recently was “I’m not ready”. In that moment a dear friend reminded me that- You will never be ready. This is also a good reminder for you, you may never feel completely ready and despite that you just have to go for it!

Now let me tell you how we will help with all your other fears besides the fear of not being ready, for it is something you are just going to have to kick to the curb.

-If you have a fear of the application process we would be happy to help you fill it out! Shoot an email to meg@theclevelandflea.com and she will happily guide you through the process!

-If you don’t have all the answers for the application, don’t sweat it. Fill out what you can and we will help you take the steps to filling in any blanks!

-If you don’t believe you have the perfect answers, you can have comfort in knowing- neither do we. ;)

-If you previously filled out the application but were not accepted let us offer you real time feedback to help get you hooked up with the Flea in the future.

-If you are an out of town vendor and are not sure where to stay check out our previous blog post here, it has all the hidden gems in means of where to catch some zzz’s in Cleveland.

-If you don’t have a working website, it’s okay- we don’t require it!!

-If you aren’t filed as an LLC currently, or don’t have all the licensing needed we will help you take the steps to getting what you need- DO NOT let this hold you back from applying. We’ve got you covered.

I want you to now look whatever fears you’ve got left in the eye and say:

“Hello, fear. Thank you for being here. You’re my indication that I’m doing what I need to do”. -Cheryl Strayed

If your heart is racing and your arms are dripping sweat reading this, you just might want to hurry up and press that Send Application Button for spaces are limited! I seriously can’t wait to see you courageous people this season!